WASHINGTON, June 15: The White House said on Tuesday that it would hand over former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to the interim Iraqi government at 'an appropriate time'.

The White House stopped short of publicly committing to do so by the June 30 transfer of power as asserted by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, but did not rule it out.

Mr Allawi said on Monday that Saddam Hussein and other prisoners would be given to the new Iraqi government within two weeks to prepare for trial. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "We're going to turn him over at the appropriate time.

We've made that very clear that we want to see him face justice by the Iraqi people for the atrocities he committed." But when asked if the handover of Saddam Hussein and other prisoners would occur in the next two weeks, Mr McClellan was noncommittal.

"Those are discussions we are having with the interim government," he said. "We're talking to them about those issues, and about the process for turning them over... Let's let those discussions take place."

US troops captured Saddam Hussein in December last year near his home town of Tikrit and he has been in US custody since, held as a prisoner of war at an unknown location.

The United States has agreed to give him - and other indicted officials in its custody - to the Iraqis for trial once a sovereign government sets up a special tribunal capable of conducting a fair trial after June 30.

The tribunal plans to charge some of Saddam Hussein's associates by the end of this year, the top court administrator Salem Chalabi said last week. It hopes former aides of Saddam Hussein captured by US occupation troops will testify against him during their prosecution, which could take many months. -Reuters